I apologize for the delay in posting. I have been working to get all of my current writings on AO3 (thanks to writersblock42 for introducing me to that website), and I put writing any new content on hold for a few weeks. I promise that there is a new chapter for The 7 Year Gap underway. It currently has about 1500 words in it. Finals are coming up for my classes but I am working as hard as I can to get that chapter done so I can finally post it. Thanks to everyone who has been patient with me as of late. There's been a lot going on in my life, and I really appreciate everyone's understanding!

I also wanted to thank everyone who has favorited / followed / reviewed this story since the last update. I've been having fun with this concept, but knowing that it is getting views certainly helps motivate me to keep it going!

The slight breeze of wind was painful enough on his skin that it stirred Krillin from his rest. Every crevice of his body ached, eyes stinging from the dust that was blown in his face during his sleep. His cheeks twitched as he tried to remember what happened. The last thing he could replay in his mind was the dark eyes of that man - that stranger - and the rest was nothing.

"G-Goku..." He breathed. Yes, it was true. He remembered that Goku had died. He'd been watching another one of Bulma and Yamchca's arguments concerning this when the man had struck.

With a cringe, Krillin moved his arm… Luckily he had senzu beans... It took every strain his muscles could muster, but Krillin managed to fish a bean from his pocket and slip it between his lips. Feeling as if he would choke at any moment, he ground the bean up between his teeth and swallowed as soon as he could.

And then, in only a split second, he suddenly felt whole.

"YAMCHA! BULMA!" He howled, shooting from the crater his body had been laying in. He expected to see his friends and that man engaged in a battle, but instead he saw only trees. Realizing that he must have flown into the forest after Vegeta's blow, Krillin focused his mind for his friends' ki. Bulma's was nowhere around. Neither was a foreign power that would have belonged to that strange man.

All he felt was Yamcha, and it was fading fast.

What had happened? As far as Krillin knew, he'd only been out for a few seconds! He began to charge towards Yamcha's ki, his mind racing as possibilities began to play in his head. Who was that man? What could he have wanted? They hadn't done anything wrong! There was no reason for someone to attack!

When he found Yamcha laying in a pool of his own blood, arms curled in unnatural positions, Krillin felt as if his own heart would stop. He shot a hand in his pocket, searching for a senzu bean, and his breath caught in his throat. "No!" He gasped, patting the leg of his pants desperately. "No! No! There's gotta be another one! I can't be out already!"

A gurgling noise could be heard coming from Yamcha as he seemed to realize he was no longer alone.

"Hold on, old buddy!" Krillin panted, frantically feeling around his other pocket for even the hint of a bean. There was a cluster of dirt that he grabbed in his fist, pulling it from his orange pants to give it a look over. Green dust blew from his palm as he examined the pile he'd found, and Krillin dropped to his knees.

"Yamcha... open up." He breathed, palming the dust into the Z-Fighter's mouth. "The last bean got crushed... just swallow what you can of its crumbs, buddy..."

It wasn't much, but Yamcha listened to his friend and gulped down what he could. A moment later he felt as the strength slowly fluttered through his veins, and the Z-Fighter pushed himself up from the ground with trembling arms. "Bulma!" He groaned, taking in a sharp gulp of breath.

"Careful, man." Krillin said, putting a firm hand on Yamcha's shoulder. "You only got a little bit of the senzu bean in you. Don't push yourself too hard!"

"We need to find Bulma!" Yamcha replied breathlessly.

"What happened after that guy hit me?" Krillin asked. "I don't remember anything!"

"That bastard... He wanted the dragonballs..." Yamcha finally managed to pull himself to his feet, wobbling a bit as he caught his balance. "He... He went after her..."

Krillin closed his eyes, racing his mind for any trace of Bulma's ki. In the distance - the far distance, he found it. "She's okay." He announced, furrowing his brows. "He's strong - really strong. He's with her, but she doesn't feel like she's injured."

"I'll bet he's keeping her because he wants the dragonballs. We've gotta stop him!" Yamcha grit his teeth, taking a step forward.

"Hey! Careful!" Krillin gasped, breaking from the trance he'd been in. "We'll get her. But you need to recover first! This guy isn't like anyone else we've ever encountered. We don't even have Goku to help us with this. We can't go into it when you're still injured." With that Krillin grabbed Yamcha's arm and jumped into the air, taking off for the closest hospital he could. "I'll keep track of her, and we can go if it starts to feel like something bad is happening. You need to heal first. And I need to get more senzu beans… I have a feeling we'll need them."

.

"So, are you the good guy or the bad guy?"

Vegeta was stomping through the woods as Bulma followed. She was briskly tagging along, staring at him from behind as they went. The sun was getting ready to set, and the saiyan was hunting for dinner after realizing he'd already eaten through all of the supply they'd had.

"What kind of question is that?" He growled. It seemed that the more time that passed, the more mouthy this Earth Woman became. It was unnerving - where was the fear? He'd rather her be too frightened to make such casual conversation. It was as if she'd realized he had no intentions of actually harming her, and to his frustration he was having a hard time wanting to scare her any more. Each time he considered saying something to physically intimidate her, the image of her jumping from the exploding plane flashed through his mind. The words she'd said when he discovered her hanging from the tree…

"Well, you told me before that someone will be coming for you in about 87 days..." Bulma took a deep breath, climbing over a fallen tree trunk. "... It's obvious you're going to use your wish to your advantage against that other person. And I'm helping you find the dragonballs, so I guess that means I'm on your side, right?"

The saiyan gurgled a response, not caring to verbally reply.

"Right." Bulma continued. "And I'm wondering... which side am I on? The good, or the bad?"

"Perhaps there is no good and bad." He growled, looking over his shoulder to make sure she wasn't falling behind. "Enough with this. It would be wise not to assume such fairy tale scenarios."

"I think." Bulma continued, choosing to ignore him. "I think you're a huge asshole, but you might also be good. For whatever worth that is."

"Asshole?" The saiyan nearly chuckled, but fought the reaction off. He was tired of her doing this to him. It seemed that she was always catching him off guard, sometimes causing him to drop his bitter guise. He needed to maintain a tough front if he was going to ensure her respect. There was no room for jesting! Why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut instead?!

"You murdered my friends. You kidnapped me. You put this awful bracelet on my arm, and you have no guilt. You're an asshole, and I don't like you." The Bluehead almost fell when her foot snagged on a root, and she hopped to catch her balance. "But you weren't horrible to my parents, and you helped me in that bar..."

"You'll do yourself a service to stop romanticizing things." Vegeta growled, and it was obvious that he was getting tired of her speech. "There is no good and bad. That mentality is foolish."

This didn't deter Bulma, and she continued. "... You also said that you understood why I jumped out of the plane, so you must be good compared to the guy coming after-"

Suddenly she felt herself being pressed against a tree, and the air came shooting out from her lungs as she gasped. It wasn't that the Bluehead was in pain, for she'd been handled rather gently, but she was incredibly startled. It never ceased to amaze her with how fast he could move, and she hadn't seen it coming at all. Wide eyed and panting, Bulma was staring straight into the eyes of Vegeta, who had pushed her into the tree, and was now standing dangerously close to her face as he reared his teeth. "Get it through your Earthling brain." He growled, putting a palm against the tree at the side of her head. "Where I am from, there is no right and wrong. There is only disorder and pain. We are all creatures of survival, and those that you want to claim are good merely have less evil in their blood than the others. But there is still bad – we are all inherently evil."

Bulma was still silently panting from the intensity of the situation, as Vegeta furrowed his brows and deepened his glare. She felt his breath slapping her in the face, could smell his scent even, but she knew he wouldn't hurt her. She wasn't frightened, but something about him being this close was making her uncomfortable... Kami, he was incredibly close!

"It is wise not to trust me." He continued, leaning further in. "Don't start twisting my actions into something that they aren't. Where I am from, there is only evil. Do you understand? Assuming we are capable of anything else is dangerous. It's the fastest way to get yourself killed..."

He stared into her eyes for a few seconds more, allowing his words to sink in. Slowly, after what felt like minutes, he calmly eased back. Bringing his hand down from the tree and stepping away from the Bluehead, he let out another growl. Without another word he turned on his heel and continued his walk through the woods, leaves crunching under his feet as he went.

Her mouth hanging open, Bulma began to follow after, but didn't speak anything more. His words replayed in her mind like a riddle, and as she continued clambering through the brush in an attempt to keep up with the saiyan, she used the rest of her walk trying to piece together its meaning...

'Evil.' She thought… What he said just didn't make any sense. Surely if the other guy was evil, and Vegeta's aim was to defeat him, then that meant he saw the wrong and was wanting to resolve it. Wouldn't that make him the good guy - or at least, as close to good as he could get, for being such a brutal murderer?

"Stand back." Vegeta said suddenly, and Bulma looked up to see a large winged lizard that was twice as tall as her parent's house. It was howling as it slammed its scaly arms against the trees, obviously unhappy with being disturbed. Bulma screamed as a large ledge fell out of one of the trees, jumping back to keep from being hit by it.

"I told you to stand back!" Vegeta barked, jumping to avoid being swiped with its angry tail.

"Leave me alone! I'm trying!" Bulma snapped, running to a tree and hiding behind it for cover. The lizard seemed to have set its focus on her, its large eyes following her as she ran. The monster let out another howl, the wings on its back flapping as it began to stomp towards her. The ground shook as it moved, threatening to knock the Bluehead on her rear as she clung to the tree for support.

"Hey!" Vegeta yelled, firing a blast at the monster's rear to regain its attention. The lizard ignored him, stepping even closer towards Bulma as she backed away further. The Bluehead scooted away, watching as trees fell in the wake of the lizard's path. She could hear Vegeta yelling something, but she couldn't make out what he was saying over the sound of the destruction. As the creature gained on her, she attempted to move to take cover behind a different tree. The ground was rattling too much, however, and Bulma found herself losing her balance.

She let out a gasp as she fell back on her rear, opening her eyes just in time to see a giant scaly hand reaching down for her. As the lizard lifted her up towards his face, Bulma could hear Vegeta yelling something again down below. This time she had trouble hearing him over the wind that was flaring from the creature's nostrils.

"Damn, I hate lizards!" Vegeta was cursing. He'd already attempted to get its attention by firing blasts at its legs and even punching it, but the reptile was too fixated on Bulma to care. This lizard was about the same size as Vegeta was when he took on his Ozaru form, its upper body towering over the tree tops as it held Bulma in the air. The saiyan hadn't been expecting that reptiles of such size even resided on this disgusting planet! It was going to require more than a few punches to bring it down, but now it had the Woman. He was going to have to be even more careful to make sure that she wasn't harmed in the crossfire!

The lizard was stomping away now, flicking its wings threatening as if it would take off into the sky at any minute.

'Damned Woman!' Vegeta thought. Why hadn't she listened when he'd been yelling at her to take cover behind him?!

"Veggie!" He could hear her shouting. "Ve-ggie! Help!"

"Stupid reptile!" The saiyan grunted, taking off into the air for it. He flew around the two to approach the creature from the front, moving straight for the hand that was currently holding Bulma. Her upper torso was poking out from its closed fist, her arms pinned to her side under its grip. When she looked up to see Vegeta, the two locked eyes and she smiled. "I just need my arms to be free!"

He didn't understand why she was saying this. Of course he was going to free her from this lizard's clutches, and of course that would include her arms! His eyes never leaving her own, the saiyan raised an arm and fired a blast into the lizard's right eye.

It let out a howl and dropped Bulma so it could scratch at its injured eye, and she let out a shattering scream as she began to fall. Vegeta went right after her, catching her in midair before she had a chance to hit the ground. She landed in his arms with a thud. Rather than appreciate her sudden safety, the Bluehead began to instantly squirm against his hold.

"Stop, Woman! Keep still!" Vegeta growled. The creature had turned and was now starting to come after them. He was trying to keep her stable enough in his grip that she wouldn't fall when he lifted an arm to send another blast at the lizard.

Bulma did not cease in her squirming, though. Just as the saiyan was about to scold her again, he watched as she reached her arm out and threw something at the lizard. Vegeta's eyes followed the object, immediately recognizing it as the same type of contraption that the vehicles and house were all stored in. The small ball hit the lizard, erupting into a yellow cloud. From the smoke appeared a large net, which fell across the lizard's shoulders and torso.

Vegeta's eyes widened as he watched. Sparks were starting to shoot from the net, radiating around the reptile as it croaked. The saiyan could feel Bulma's nails digging into his forearm. She turned her head away and cringed at the sound of the creature's screams. Vegeta looked down at the girl in his arms, feeling utterly amazed as the giant lizard was electrocuted right in front of them. He could feel her heart racing as her chest pressed against him, could hear her panting as she fought to gain control of her nerves.

It took several minutes for it to happen, but when the lizard finally stopped with its cries and fell back with another rattling thud, Bulma's grip on the saiyan suddenly softened. Still feeling bewildered, his eyes moved to her fingers then, as if only noticing for the first time that she'd even been gripping him…

"Hmph! Serves him right!" She huffed as Vegeta set her down on her feet. He began to walk towards the recently fried creature, and he had to lock his jaw to keep his mouth from hanging open. 'She had a plan.' He thought, thinking back on how she'd screamed that she'd needed her arms freed. When he had caught her and felt her thrashing against him, he'd assumed that she'd just been in frightened hysterics. But – damn – she'd had a plan.

"Well, would you look at that." Bulma was saying tiredly as she collected the net back into its capsule. "Turns out we didn't have to hunt for food, after all. The meal came to us."

"As if." The saiyan scowled. He had meant to question her about all of those little capsules she kept throwing, and about the net that had just killed this creature, but the suggestion of devouring it had suddenly soured his mood. "We will not be eating this tonight."

Bulma was slightly relieved to hear this. She wasn't very fond of interacting with her dinner before eating it. But she turned to the man anyway, grinning. "Really? But it's already cooked!" She joked, and it really made her laugh to see Vegeta's consequential gag.

"I hate reptiles!" He spat. "Especially lizards!"

"Really?" Bulma repeated, raising an eyebrow now. "I had no idea you were afraid of-"

"I am anything BUT afraid!" Vegeta barked. "I absolutely detest reptiles to the fullest extent! I will never be putting any part of one in my mouth, and that has nothing to do with fear!"

It seemed that Bulma's teasing had put Vegeta in a bad mood. She had obviously hit another sensitive spot for the saiyan. The two remained silent for a few moments, as Bulma tucked the capsule back into her belt bag and dusted the claw prints off her shirt. Up until that point, her back had actually started to feel a lot better after using the ointment that Vegeta had given her, but there were still some raw spots that she hadn't been able to reach. It didn't help matters that the damned lizard had scratched some of her blisters, too.

When the Bluehead turned back to the saiyan, she saw him standing against a tree with his arms crossed. A scowl planted across his features. "Hey." She finally said. "Don't be upset." It was obvious that there was something more to reptiles than she knew. Judging by the look on his face, she hadn't just hit a raw spot for him. Evidently, she'd hit a deep wound. Some kind of past trauma, perhaps?

Vegeta grunted, pushing himself from the tree.

"I'm sorry, really." Bulma continued with a soft smile. "I was only making a joke. I didn't mean anything by it, honestly. I know you aren't afraid."

"Of course I'm unafraid of lizards!" Vegeta growled, spitting in the direction of the lifeless monster that was laying close to them.

"Did something happen with one?" She replied. She thought she may be close to crossing another line, but the passion in his voice encouraged her to press on. Instead of snarling a response at her, like the Bluehead might have expected, Vegeta almost smirked. "You could say that if you want to put it lightly."

The two had begun walking through the woods again, Bulma at his side instead of trailing behind like before. They went in silence for a few minutes before she decided to speak once more. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"Hmm."

That was all she got. Feeling confused, and perhaps a bit awkward, Bulma accepted this. She continued making her way alongside him without speaking another word. It seemed that Vegeta was deep in thought. Whatever she had spurred in his mind, she had finally decided to let it be. She had no intention to press him any further, so it came as a surprise when he spoke up on his own. "I will spare you the details of it, because we don't need any distractions. All you need to know is that the dragonballs will play a part in this. There is one lizard in particular that needs to be stopped."

"What?" Bulma furrowed her eyebrows. Now she was even more curious, and even more confused. "What on Earth are you talking about?" She gasped. The was the second time in an hour that she felt as if he'd just recited some type of riddle to her.

"Don't concern yourself with it. You've already asked enough. Just know that lizards are not to be trusted, but none of that shall matter once we retrieve the last ball."

Bulma nodded as if she understood, dropping her head to eye her feet as she continued to walk. She thought Vegeta had said that he needed the dragonballs because someone was coming after him, hadn't he? Where on Earth did lizards fit into that equation? Had the person who was chasing Vegeta tortured him with lizards? But, that sounded so ridiculous! What on Earth was going on?!

"And anyway, Woman. I have something else to say to you."

The Bluehead looked up from her feet, raising her eyebrows. The man standing beside her was usually so quiet and introverted. He certainly was talking a lot tonight!

"What was it you were saying when that disgusting thing grabbed you? Veggie? Don't call me that again."

"Oh." She hadn't even thought about it at the time! It had only come out of her mouth as she cried for him to help, and using the name Veggie had felt completely natural! She told him this, and had to stifle a giggle when she saw his face wrinkle into another gag.

"My name is Vegeta, understand? I am not Veggie." He growled, not seeing anything amusing in this exchange.

"And my name is not Woman." Bulma replied. She had obviously not meant anything with her slip of tongue, but the fact that he seemed so defensive about the matter was too ridiculous for her to take. This man tried to act so hardened and strong. Why would someone who was as brutal as he claimed to be get so worked up over simply being called Veggie! It should be so petty in comparison to anything he'd encountered before! How amazing was this?!

'Whatever, Vegeta.' She thought as she shook her head and looked back down to her feet. 'There's obviously more to you than you're letting on…'

.

It was noon the next day, and already Bulma was exhausted. They hadn't finished collecting food and eating until about 10PM the night before, and they had set up camp not far from where the next dragonball was to be found. It had taken even longer for the Bluehead to attempt to rub more ointment into her wounded back. By this point it was established that Vegeta had claimed the bedroom for himself, so Bulma set up a makeshift bed on the couch, and it seemed like hours before she could clear her mind enough to fall asleep.

As it seemed to be his routine, Vegeta had woken her up before the sun had even risen in the sky, barking that they needed to get started on their journey before too much time was wasted. The Bluehead dragged herself out of the couch she'd been sleeping on, groaning as her mind adjusted to her surroundings. She had protested that they could continue to sleep for at least another two hours, but of course Vegeta had declined it.

This next dragonball was retrieved without any incident. They traced it to a mountain that was located in the forest. Rather than hiking their way to the ball, Vegeta had decided that they would save time in flying up the side of the mountain instead. He was right, of course!

And, by the time they found the ball neatly tucked underneath a bird's nest, the Bluehead's stomach was starting to growl with the need of a meal. This was great, considering the fact that Vegeta seemed to always be hungry, and seemed rather excited as he flew them both back to their capsule house.

Feeling tired and ready for a nap, Bulma took a sip of the soup that was bubbling on the stove. Vegeta was in the other room. He had told the Bluehead that he needed to workout on a regular basis, something he referred to as "training". At the moment he was currently working through a series of pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and whatever else it was that he did in the privacy of his room…

She was standing in front of the window in the kitchen, setting the spoon she'd been using to stir the stew aside. Bulma was about to turn and make her way for the couch when something outside caught her eye. It was a flash of orange, and for a moment she felt déjà vu. A very familiar memory played in her mind then, images from her past… The Bluehead paused in place. 'No.' She thought, taking a step towards the window and getting a good look outside. 'There's no way… It couldn't have been…'